After four years on the market, the revolutionary Volvo S60 was refreshed and brought cleaner engines and better safety systems.
As of January 2005, all vehicles registered in Europe had to fit in the Euro 4 pollution standards, and Volvo had to refresh its lineup. At that time, Volvo was still owned by Ford, and it has to use some of its technologies. But, in the end, Ford took some platforms and engines from the Swedish carmaker.

The S60 was designed with loads of biodesign trend themes. The facelifted version followed the same lines, but the car was enhanced in many areas. After all, it was a rounded vehicle that replaced the boxy-looking S70 (which was, in turn, a refreshed 850). Volvo installed clear lens headlights at the front and dark surround for them. The carmaker installed a new set of taillights with transparent glass and visible light bulbs in the back.

Inside, there was a big step forward to the premium-segment. Apart from higher quality materials, the carmaker introduced a new sound system that could get up to six-CDs on board. Volvo was concerned about the car’s safety and insisted on offering the possibility of pairing a mobile phone to the car’s audio system.

Under the hood, the Swedish engineers installed mostly turbocharged engines, either gasoline or diesel. All of them were used only by Volvo, and not by Ford. These engines could have been paired either to a manual or an automatic transmission.